Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is informative. Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.-Editor.]

Ford’s claim that he was not aware of the anti-Jewishs published in his paper, the “Dearborn Independent”, and the confession that “Ford’s Own Page” in that paper was not written by the auto manufacturer but by its editor Cameron, are termed by the Bridgeport (Conn.) “Post” a “fraud” indicative of the nature of Ford’s charges against the Jews. The “Post,” in its issue of March 26, writes:

“The motor magnate never knew what sayings had been put into his mouth until he read them in the magazine.

“This was amusing, but not startling, for readers of the magazine must have suspected it from the beginning. Whether or not Sapiro and his cooperative organizations were libeled by the ‘Dearborn Independent’, it is quite apparent that most of the fulminations of that magazine were the product of ignorant prejudice rather than real independence, just as the magazine’s boasted honesty was a fraud in the case of its most advertised page.”

A similar view is held by the Chicago (Ill.) “Journal of Commerce”, which observes on March 24:

“One of the things we cannot believe is that any important editorial policy of his ‘Dearborn Independent’ is not in substantial harmony with Ford’s views. In that paper’s series of attacks on Jews, for instance, which continued for weeks, Mr. Ford himself could not convince us that they were not made at his suggestion. He may not have seen a single article before it appeared, but a newspaper ‘angel’ always gets what he wants in it, and nothing else if his writers can help it.”

The Wilmington (N.C.) “Star” of Mar. 27, employing a satirical vein, expresses itself thus:

“So Mr. Cameron writes Mr. Ford’s page in the ‘Dearborn Independent’. Mr. Cameron admits it, Mr. Ford does not deny it, so it must be true. Not surprising. Not strange. Lincoln and Barnum were both right. Lincoln said that it was impossible to fool all the people all the time, and Barnum rejoined that the people like to be humbugged. If Cameron had written that page under his own name, it would have meant no more than the views of any periodical of the same class as the ‘Dearborn Independent’. With Ford’s name over it, the people swallowed it whole. They liked it, therefore score one for Barnum. Then along came Aaron Sapiro and his libel suit, and Cameron lets the cat out. Lincoln scores and the game is tied.”

The Montreal (Que.) “Witness”, while disapproving of Ford’s anti-Jewish campaign, apparently seems to agree with one of his notions on which he bases his allegations of “a Jewish conspiracy”, namely, that the Jews are “in control of the financial reins.” The paper declares:

“Mr. Ford’s hatred of everything Jewish is notorious. On different occasions the great Wall Street bankers are supposed to have nearly succeeded in wrecking Mr. Ford’s enterprises. Jewish interests predominate in these circles and Mr. Ford will not forgive the race for what he considers the iniquities of the capitalists. Throughout western Europe the anti-Jewish sentiment has blazed up with greater visibility since the war-and for the same reason as underlies Mr. Ford’s animosity. The Jews, especially on the continent, are in chief control of the reins of finance. Europe, in chaotic post-war times, has found the harness galling.”